


Shattered Earth

by tygerliftsthemountain



Category: Rurouni Kenshin
Genre: Earthquake related, Earthquakes, F/M, Meiji Era, Some Romance, or whenever, some violence, sort of earthquake related
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-23
Updated: 2014-05-22
Packaged: 2018-01-26 05:02:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1675679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tygerliftsthemountain/pseuds/tygerliftsthemountain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kenshin is out shopping while Kaoru is teaching at a neighboring dojo when an earthquake rocks Tokyo.  Injured and shaken can they find each other as the dust settles on an irrevocably changed city?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shattered Earth

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Hahaha, I wish. In fact, Nobuhiro, feel free to give me Rurouni Kenshin any time you want.
> 
> AN: Years ago I popped my manga cherry with a Rurouni Kenshin book, so it seems only fitting that I pop my fanfiction cherry with the same.
> 
> AN2: I don’t care much about picky grammatical errors (they’re more guidelines than rules anyway), but if you see any mad awful typos feel free to point them out. I am not yet brave enough to ask anyone to beta read for me.

 

Kaoru had hoped she would not still need to give guest lessons to earn money after all this time, especially now that freeloading Sanosuke was gone (it still hurt to think about him leaving).  But Yahiko was growing rapidly, and somehow it always seemed like the dojo needed repairs.  The Kenjustu Rose was getting tired of whacking starry-eyed boys around Maekawa-san’s dojo. 

It is not that she is tired of teaching, no, never that.  It is only that she gets so much more respect in her own dojo.  Her students, though still few in number, are all serious, dedicated, and uncaring that she is a woman.  To them she is sensei, not Kenjustu-hime (which earns a glare), not Tokyo’s Rose (which gets a glare and a swat), and definitely not Flower-of-my-Heart Kaoru-chan (which gets a smack so hard the offender usually never wakes to say it again). 

“Kaoru-san?” (She would tolerate that one, especially when it came from the shy Tanaka Matsuda, a relatively new student who rarely spoke up).  Matsuda approached her hesitantly, fingering the hilt of his shinai.

“Yes Matsuda-san?” she replied, pulling herself from her musings and raising her eyes to the young man’s face.

“Would you do the honor of sparring with me?” He shuffled forward another half step and bowed his head slightly, breaking her gaze and staring intently at the polished hardwood floor of the dojo.

“Certainly,” Kaoru said with a smile.  It would not be much of a match, if his hesitance and lack of eye contact was any indication, but he would learn from it and perhaps perform better the next time.

People stepped back as Kaoru and Matsuda moved to the center of the dojo.  Kaoru turned to face her opponent and raised her sword. 

____________________

 

Kenshin smiled as he made his way through the marketplace, slipping easily between people in the crowd.  He enjoyed the bustle of the city; so chaotic, yet to him, so peaceful.  He let the clamoring voices wash over and through him, walking lightly and calmly to each stall. 

“You’re not buying as much tofu anymore,” Aoyama-san, the tofu vendor noted.  Not accusingly, but with a tone that hinted at more than curiosity and sharp eyes that looked at Kenshin intently.

“Ah,” Kenshin agreed.  “But I have what I need,” he added.  The tofu vendor looked like he wanted Kenshin to say more, but Kenshin simply smiled and gathered up his tofu and other purchases.  “Thank you for the excellent tofu as always Aoyama-san.  Good day.”  He turned and slid quickly back into the ever-moving flow of people in the marketplace before the tofu vendor could say anything else.  Kenshin was more aware of the city’s gossip about the Kamiya dojo than most of his friends would think, and he had no interest in supplying more for nosy vendors.  If not everyone had made the connection between the chase of the Sekihoutai fugitive and the disappearance of the well-known rooster headed freeloader, Kenshin was not going to help them do it.

Kenshin paused and looked at the sun.  He would have time to make one more stop before he needed to head back to the dojo.  Kaoru would be returning soon, and he wanted to prepare her bath and get started on dinner.  But before starting back he made his way to a smaller, colorful stall which displayed ribbons, combs, and other hair accoutrements. 

Taking care not to look too interested in anything he browsed the display, fingers passing lightly over several ribbons before he turned his attention to a set of carved wooden combs.  The gray-haired woman who ran the stall watched him out of the corner of her eye as she rearranged her selection of pins, which were already perfectly parallel on the dark cloth upon which they were displayed. 

He knew what he wanted; he had seen it last week tucked away in one corner and hidden slightly by a box of leather ties.  It was a two pronged silver hair pin, which supported an array of delicately carved flowers surrounding a single small blue gemstone.  From it hung two fine chains which each ended in a shiny round bell.  When he saw it the week before he had known he did not have the coin for such a purchase, but a few days ago he assisted the chief of police in securing the arrest of a prominent member of the local yakuza, and had received a small sum in reward for his troubles.

It would look lovely in a certain kendo-master’s raven locks.  He could already see the widening of her sapphire eyes and pink that would dust her cheeks when she received it.  He finally picked the hair pin up and turned to the woman to inquire about the price.

____________________

 

At first Kaoru thought she had somehow lost focus and stumbled.  But then she realized Matsuda had not taken advantage of her clumsiness to score a hit.  Her stomach lurched as bokken rattled off the wall racks and someone cried out when he was struck by one of the falling swords.  Then the dojo floor _rippled_.  Boards buckled and more voices joined the first as people staggered and fell around her. 

____________________

 

Just a split second before it began Kenshin had already started moving.  He rolled to the left, leaving behind the day’s purchases but still not quite dodging the falling beam from a neighboring stall, which clipped him in the shoulder.  He continued forward with a grunt, opening up his senses to his surroundings and leaping just in time to avoid another falling beam.  Others were not so lucky.  The marketplace was filled with a cacophony of screams as the ground heaved and shook.  Dust filled his lungs and his pulse pounded as the scent of blood was added to the air.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


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